June 14, 2013 - Blackbird hitches a ride on a Hawk

Photographer Eric Dugan
Taken at Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area in Northern California
via grindTV

Wow! That blackbird has chutzpah! And smarts - he/she has figured out that the hawk can't do anything in that situation, and isn't nearly as maneuverable. Very cool.

It's a bird aircraft carrier.

That is not what we (Brits) would call a blackbird.

Does it sing?
If not, was The Beatles song a little confusing?
I know Charlie Manson made up his own meaning for Helter Skelter after all.

Then again it's a stretch from having the same name for disperate birds, to creating a wannabee genocidal family...

That's a red-winged blackbird, very common here. They don't exactly 'sing' - they have a distinctive call during nesting season, but I haven't heard them sing otherwise.

At nesting time, red-winged blackbirds are VERY territorial and will attack anything or anyone, who gets too close to their nest. They've buzzed me many times as I was crossing a field.

As they start pecking on the hawk, (Cooper's hawk here, perhaps), the hawk will do a roll to knock them loose, at which time the blackbird better not be found near the hawks talons. (They nearly always avoid them easily).

This is repeated until the hawk is out of their territory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adak They've buzzed me many times as I was crossing a field.

Some had staked out a tree on the way to 5th grade. I dreaded having to pass by them every day. That's what my whole problem was with sckul. It was dem boids.